Diego Rivera who would become a famous Mexican painter was born to an affluent family on December 8, 1886 in Guanajuato, Guanajuato. His parents provided him with a first-rate education and he began studying art at the age of ten. The subject of Diego Rivera paintings still invokes much conversation and deliberation among scholars and artist.
The greatest Mexican artist of the twentieth century influenced the world of art with his style. With his Marxist views which were depicted in his paintings and his tumultuous relationship with Frieda Kahlo Diego Rivera created quite a global stir which is still of interest today. He was one of the first artists to put art on public places for everybody to witness and he taught the world that art could be used to make a political statement for and by the everyday man.
His first artistic expressions showed his love of math because he used an approach known as cubism. This allowed the artist to create works with a three-dimensional feel to them. When one views this work, it is as if the picture is coming off the canvas. He would later become most recognized for his murals, which made political statements.
Frescoes, murals painted on fresh plaster, is the art that made Rivera a public artist. He painted these murals on walls in New York City, Mexico City, Detroit, and many other cities. This art allowed the public to see the artist work and embrace the existence of art as a public forum. The work he did portrayed history and showed the growth of the industrial age and how it affected the working class.
His first major work in America was for the American Stock Exchange Luncheon Club. With this piece, he showed the historical evolution at the time but was also able to include his fanatical political views. He always included the struggles of blue collar America in the murals he painted because he thought this was a true portrayal of history.
“Man at the Crossroads” was a mural the Rockefellers hired Rivera to paint in the lobby of the RCA building. It was to show the political, social, industrial, and scientific opportunities of the twentieth century. He decided to include a May Day demonstration led by Lenin. He was ask to remove Lenin but refused so he had to stop painting. Even though the mural was destroyed, he used the money to paint another one in Mexico with Lenin as the main figure leading a demonstration.
One of the best examples of Mexican mural art in the United States is a twenty-seven panel work in Detroit that took Rivera eleven months to complete. It shows the city’s manufacturing and labor force of the 1930′s which is what the city was built on. The artist considered this the best work of his career.
After Diego’s death, his work has continued to influence art around the world. The establishment of life as art on public buildings and the use of art to make a political declaration continues today. American artist use their art to create political statements. Art is an accepted medium in the political arena of today.
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